It is oftentimes necessary to convey articles, such as, for example, containers, between different locations, such as, again by way of example, moving bottles having a neck portion with a neck ring thereon, from one location, or position, to another in connection with manufacture, processing, storage, and/or filling of the bottles.
While articles may sometimes simply be moved in single line, or file, between locations, it is sometimes necessary, or at least preferable, that unstable articles such as containers having a neck portion with a neck ring thereon, be supported during conveyance by engaging members that engage the lower protruding edge of the neck ring, with the thus supported articles being moved along an article conveying path either by air urging the articles along the path with the articles sliding along fixed position engaging members, as shown for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,370 (Danler et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,630,679 (Simkowski et al.), or by causing the engaging members to be moved along the article conveying path to thereby urge the articles along the article conveying path due to frictional engagement between the articles and the article engaging members, as shown for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,571 (Born et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,874,081 (Konko), U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,698 (Patois et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,998 (Priero).
Particular difficulty has heretofore been encountered, however, in handling some types of articles during conveyance, including, for example, unstable articles supported during conveyance by engagement with neck rings on the articles, and this invention is particularly directed to improvement of such conveyance.